Phalenopsis with genetic issues?
 

Hello,

About two years ago some friends visiting us gave us away a nice but still quite commonly looking Phalaenopsis just bought in a shop.

At that time I was just starting to grow some orchids, so very little experience there, but I immediately noticed that the plant had something that looked different to me. It had:
- quite a larger number of leaves quite over-crowded (but still of the typical size)
- a large number (5 or 6) very long (about 50-60 cm) flower stems
- quite a large number of orchid buds, but most of them weirdly located just at the end of the stems
- It came with a label stating something like: high quality species, 5 star species, bla, bla, bla...
- in the purchasing box it made really a strong/good impression of being indeed of higher quality...

After a while, most of the buds fell off and only a handful number of buds made it to become flowers. And there I noticed something else that looked weird to me: the size of the flower did not match at all the expectations of the size of the leaves and of the stems...

At that time I thought: OK, the plant must have suffered somehow the transition from the shop to my house, next year it will show its full potential. Then I moved it to lava-rock and eventually to S/H. This gave me the opportunity to have a close look at the roots, which were doing great.

Since several months I have it in S/H, with I think optimal growing conditions (including seaweeds, optimal PAR light, probiotics, etc...). Same conditions in which another dozen orchids I have is doing great...

The plant grew some new leaves and incredibly tall stems with a lot of buds...The stems grew from the existing 5-6 stems, reaching up to 60-70 cm tall stems. But then...AGAIN, most of the buds fell off!!! About 90% of the buds fell off, but in a strange way...it was a "maturation problem". More or less at 50% of their maturation/size, 90% of the buds fell off. Those which managed to grow beyond 50% of their size, managed to become a flower. Basically, the success rate of those growing beyond 50% size was 100%. And again the size of the flowers was below expectations...

Any thought on that? I can't attach a picture right now as I am not at my home for a few weeks.

Thanks.

Regards,
Davide

It's hard to say. Late bud loss in Phals is most often due to sudden changes in temperature or humidity, drying out from irregular watering, and unexpected cold air. It can also be caused by natural gas leaks and ethylene released by nearby ripening apples, pears, pineapples and bananas.

small flowers,mostly terminal on a long stem,shy to bloom...might be a species? remember what the labeling was?

---------- Post added at 08:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 PM ----------

smoke from any source and fumes from cooking food too if it's in the house...

That does sound like a species... For instance, Phal cornu-cervi blooms at the ends of the spikes, and does so repeatedly (so don't cut them as long as the spike are green) Small star-like flowers. There are other species in that group - such as Phal hieroglyphica.. they also tend to form clumps. Here are some photos as examples. And some of the many color forms of Phal cornu-cervi
Phal cornu-cervi

It would be most interesting to find out the name.

We'd love to see photos of this plant! It's always interesting to have an unusual case. I'm afraid that before we can see that or have a little more info, it will be difficult to do more than guess.

I don't know your level of experience and familiarity with orchids so please don't be offended when I ask: are you sure it's a Phal? Many orchids have very different
structures and flower sizes. It almost sounds like you are describing an epidendrum or something. That doesn't expla8n the bud blast but it's just a thought.